Luxor (Egypt)

Luxor is a Nile River cruise port in southern Egypt. The city covers a total area of approx 416 km2 (161 ml2) and has a population of around 506,600 people (2012 census).

• Luxor is famous worldwide with the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Thebes was the main town of the 4th Upper Egyptian nome. It was close to the eastern desert and Nubia, with their valuable trade routes and mineral resources. At its heyday it was the wealthiest city of ancient Egypt.
• The site of Thebes comprises areas on both the eastern bank of Nile, where the temples of Luxor and Karnak stand (including Valley of the Queens and Valley of the Kings) and the city proper is situated; and the western bank, where necropolis of private and royal cemeteries and funerary complexes are found.
• According to Professor George Modelski (1926-2014), Thebes featured about 40,000 inhabitants in 2000 BC (Memphis, which was the largest city of the world at the time, had 60,000). By 1800 BC, Memphis'population was down to around 30,000, making Thebes the biggest city in Egypt at that time. Historian Ian Morris (born 27 January 1960) estimated that by 1500 BC, the city may have grown to be the largest in the world, with a population of over 75,000, a position which it held until 900 BC.
• Thebes' archaeological remains offer a testimony to Egyptian civilization at its peak. The famous Greek poet Homer extolled city's wealth in the Iliad, Book 9: "... in Egyptian Thebes the heaps of precious ingots gleam, the hundred-gated Thebes."
• More than 60 annual festivals were celebrated in the city of Thebes. The major among these according to Edfu Geographical Text were: Khoiak (Festival), Beautiful Feast of Opet, Festival of I Shemu, Festival of II Shemu. Another well known festivity was the Beautiful Festival of the Valley (halloween-like).